Re: Bump release date for 3.34 from 9/11

[Britt Yazel <bwyazel gnome org>]

Oh yes, the massacre was on June 4th, the protests started on April 15th. I had my dates mixed around in my head, whoops!

But to your question about a calendar of no-go dates for big releases, maybe? I don't want to get overzealous with this, but I'm sure if we looked there are a particular set of stand-out dates that we probably would be wise to step lightly around. It's hard to come up with a list myself because, admittedly, my worldview is very Western/North American.

I think the thing that makes 9/11 particularly problematic is just the ubiquitous nature of that date in the news and culture, even internationally that date seems quite well known, and the tragedy that happened is literally and uncreatively named "9/11" or "September 11th", so just makes it more obvious. It's almost like when I see that date written down anywhere I can help but immediately jump to thoughts if terrorism because of how that particular date label has been burned into Western rhetoric.

Anyway. My goal wasn't to make a big stand or draw a line in the sand, it was mostly to just avoid having to awkwardly tweet celebratory praises on that day. It just doesn't feel quite right

On Sat, Aug 10, 2019, 10:28 AM Andre Klapper <ak-47 gmx net> wrote:

<tl;dr>: I probably still don't agree but feel free to move the release
date. I don't want to block stuff on my personal understanding / views.

On Sat, 2019-08-10 at 09:37 -0700, Britt Yazel wrote:
> @Andre, as Rosanna pointed out, from a purely practical standpoint do
> we really want our release announcements on social media to be
> sandwiched between 9/11 memorial posts? That takes the wind out of
> our sails pretty heavily if the goal of our Engagement and marketing
> teams is to raise excitement.

I guess that my (and many others') social media is not full of 9/11
memorial posts as stuff that I follow is not that USA-focused.

> The other side of the coin is this, when chosing release dates, we
> ~should~ try to choose dates that don't have a heavy negative
> connotation. This isn't an America vs everyone else argument, I'd
> make the same point if we were asking to release the build on April
> 15th (the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre), etc.

(Interesting... that would have been June 4th for me instead.)

> A quick Google search of September 11th brings you to tens of
> thousands of pages talking about terrorism and war.

At first I wondered why someone would google a specific date when
reading a GNOME release announcement for that date, but I guess your
point is that people communicate about that topic on that date.

> And yes, any day of the year can and will be offensive to release a
> new version on for someone somewhere, but dates like 9/11 will
> absolutely be offensive to millions, guaranteed.

Would that in consequence mean that we should have a calendar with no-
go release dates? Because if we go down that road I seriously wonder
which other dates I should avoid when creating a release schedule.

> So my argument is this. Even if you don't care about the mourning and
> negative connotation that people have with that particular date,
> purely practically, why would we willingly overshadow our own
> release?

I'm fine with moving the release date if people think that's better.

Cheers,
andre

--
Andre Klapper  |  ak-47 gmx net
https://blogs.gnome.org/aklapper/